More than 100 still missing after Uganda landslide

Residents of Bududa mill around an area where 18 people were buried alive following a mudslide in Bunamulembwa village in eastern Uganda.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

More than 100 people were missing and about 30 confirmed killed in eastern Uganda on Tuesday after a landslide the previous day buried villages in a coffee-growing area on the slopes of Mount Elgon, the government said.

On Monday, the Uganda Red Cross said at least 18 people had been killed in the disaster, but on Tuesday government officials said the number of fatalities was higher and that 109 people were still missing.

The affected villages are in a coffee-growing area on the slopes of Mount Elgon straddling the Kenyan border.

Red Cross spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde told Reuters that the latest reports had confirmed 18 people had died "but assessment of the devastation around the area is continuing."

A local member of parliament, David Wakikona -- who said he had initial reports of more than 100 people buried -- said there was an ongoing danger.

"The areas around Bududa district have been experiencing heavy rains for days now," he told Reuters. "I am told the landslides started around midday today [Monday] and that they're still going on and some villagers who survived the early slides are fleeing."

Landslides caused by heavy rains are frequent in eastern Uganda, where at least 23 people were killed last year after mounds of mud buried their homes. Scores of people were buried alive in a similar disaster in March 2010.